The worst kind of mistake is a simple mistake
by cartoon-crazy987
Summary: What seems like a normal day for our favorite duo turns out to be a race for survival! Can Zack and Cody overcome one horrible moment in time to save themselves? Rated T because I’m a paranoid schizophrenic that leaves nothing to chance.
1. Chapter 1

**First off who want to Beta EVERYTHING I write?**

**Next: Chapter one is always easy guys. Its just like a filler, you know me showing you what my writing style is like. And if you like where my stories goin then you can send me a nice little review. But really all this is is filler. The next chapter is gunna have STUFF in it. **

Cody set down another crisply folded white fluffy towel. Smiling to himself the blond placed his hands on his hips feeling accomplished. Ten stacks of towels, five towels in each stack, each stack folded to perfection. Cody stared at the towels for a few more seconds and then slowly lowered his hands. He was getting ready to turn and walk away to go meet Bailey, now that his work was finished for the day, when he heard a voice. A voice that filled him with a dark sense of foreboding. That voice meant trouble. Trouble for him, and his precariously stacked towels. Turning around quickly Cody instinctively opened his arms wide, shielding his towels from his brother.

"Gosh! I've been calling your…name…" Zack's sentence trailed off as approached Cody and noticed his defensive stance.

"What are you doing?" He asked rising in eyebrow in feigned confusion. The truth was he knew exactly what Cody was doing. He was guarding his precious folded towel collection from the wrath known as Zack.

"Nothing. What do you want?" Cody snapped knowing full well that Zack knew Cody was preparing himself for the inevitable attack on his towels. Zack placed a finger on his chin as if deep in thought and since this was Zack currently standing in front of him Cody knew he was faking it.

"Well, little brother." Zack started taking a dangerous step forward." Cody ground his teeth together, ignoring the jibe at being called _little brother_. Suddenly Zack Jumped forward reaching out toward the bottom of the stack of towels, yelling,

"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!" as if it was a battle cry. Cody leaped into action already expecting his brother's attack. With a swift movement Cody caught his brothers wrist and within seconds the twins where wrestling on the ground in an epic death match. Well maybe not a _death_ match, but some kind of match anyway. After a few minutes of rough housing the boys suddenly jumped when a very irate, very familiar, voice called out to them. Jumping up guilty the two boys stood at attention in front of Mr. Mosby a dark scowl coloring the mans face.

"What is going on here?" The ships manager snapped glancing around apologetically at curious passengers.

"Well… Cody saw a spider!" Zack started, elbowing his brother in the arm.

"Right and Zack threw a towel at it!" Cody added not missing a beat. They had done this hundreds of times with their mom. Stories where a lot more convincing when two people recited them at the same time.

"But it was a HUGE spider!" Zack carried on, separating his hands so that they where about a foot apart, indicating the size of the spider. Cody mentally rolled his eyes but continued anyway,

"So I had to help him throw it off the boat!"

"Along with the towel." Zack added nodding sagely.

"Honest!" Both boys added at the same time, using their best; we-know-that-you-know-that-we're-not-telling-the-truth-but-don't-yell-at-us-please, faces. Which was somewhere between pouty lips and squinty eyes. Mr. Mosby pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply. After a few calming breaths he fixed his best glare on Cody,

"Someone spilled something in the classroom; bring some towels up there immediately." Mosby turned on his heel; his message delivered and began to walk away. Not wanting to spend any more time then was actually necessary with the two hooligans.

"Oh and Zack, if you knock those towels over, YOUR going to be the one folding them back up." Mosby threw over his shoulder as he made his dramatic exit.

**Annita: AH! Sir filler! How nice to see you again. **

**Nyahahhahah, where do you think this story is going? How could there possibly any trouble in the immediate future? Anyone willing to take a guess?**

**And sorry, not my best work. Actually pretty sketchy if you ask me. But it will get better in later chapters. Everything ALWAYS gets better in the second chapter. **

**PS I put a psych reference in their. A really really weak reference. But a reference non the less. **


	2. Chapter 2

**My eyes burn. Just read. READ THIS. **

Cody waved goody bye to his teacher and stepped onto the small walkway connected to the side of the boat. Taking a step forward the blond tripped on something and caught him self on the metal waist high railing. Looking down he realized he had tripped over his own shoelace. Shrugging off the embarrassment the blond decided he would tie it later and continued walking. Two clean towels in hand. Someone had spilled about a gallon of marshmallows all over the carpet so the towels hadn't even been needed. What someone had even been doing with a gallon of marshmallows in the first place was a question that didn't need answering. Cody shook his head and made a mental note to tell Mosby to make sure that the next time someone needed a towel it was for some sort of liquid. Suddenly Cody ran into a wall, a really soft wall. Stumbling backwards the blond looked up and realized it wasn't a wall at all. It was a kid. A really big kid. With short brown hair and Hazel eyes. The kid was wearing a dark maroon shirt and a pair of tan kakis and strangely, he was barefoot. Not that Cody found the giant beast of a boys lack of shoes concerning. No, what he found to be more concerning than his choice in footwear was that this kid was ripped. His dark shirt stretched tightly over his hugely muscled arms and chest. Weirdly enough, though, the stranger looked familiar.

"Oh, sorry." Cody mumbled to the six foot tall giant, taking a quick step back.

"Not yet your not." The Giant growled crossing his arms over his chest blocking Cody's path.

"Um…" Cody said articulately. Grimacing he took a small step backwards. To the best of his knowledge he hadn't offended anyone in…well, he couldn't remember the last time he had made anyone other then his brother mad. Other then Mr. Mosby, but that didn't count, since Mosby was always mad.

"Right, well if you'll just excuse me I have-" Without warning and so quickly Cody didn't even see it coming the Giants fist lashed out and struck Cody right in the stomach knocking all the wind right out of his lungs and causing his knees to buckle. If it wasn't for the giant grabbing the front of his shirt and slamming him up against the wall Cody would have been curled up in a ball on the ground doing his best to remember how to breathe. He would have preferred to be curled up in a ball actually; instead he was staring into the furious eyes of his assailant his back pressed up against the wood of the boat.

"What the heck!?" Cody choked out sounding way more confident then he really felt.

"So you think you're too good for just one girl do you?" The giant sneered leaning in towards Cody's face. Cody flinched and pulled at the kid's hand which was knotted up in the fabric of his brand new green work shirt.

"You think you can just walk all over people, take advantage of them, and throw them away when ever you want to huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Cody half yelled panic creeping into his voice. This was so wrong! He had no idea what this guy was this guy was talking about!

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" The giant yelled pulling Cody forward and slamming him up against the wall a second time. Cody gasped and gripped at the arm holding his shirt so tightly that his nails drew blood. The giant didn't seem to notice.

"I saw you flirting with that little blond girl at the smoothie bar!" Cody's head was swimming with questions, who was this guy? Was he some kind of crazy stalker? Why did he care so much about who Cody flirted with? Suddenly something clicked in Cody's mind. _Smoothie bar? _He thought to himself, a small smile flittering across his features.

"Dude! I don't work at the smoothie bar! I'm the towel boy, my twin brother works at the smoothie bar."

**Line break**

Zack flopped down onto one of the plushy lounge chairs by the pool. Sighing contently the blond took a long sip from his pineapple strawberry smoothie. _This really is the life _he thought to himself closing his eyes. After about five minutes of mindless sunbathing a shadow fell across his relaxing form,

"Do you mind? You're blocking the sun." Zack quipped without opening his eyes.

"Have you seen Cody?" Baileys asked ignoring Zack's comment. Zack opened his eyes at the worry he heard in her voice.

"Um, not since he went to the class room to clean something up. Why?" He asked an uneasy feeling forming in his stomach.

"Because…" Bailey started chewing her lip.

"My big brothers on the boat and when I showed him a picture of Cody and told him he was my boyfriend he got _really_ angry for some reason and stormed off! I've never seen him act like that before! And it's not just because I'm his little sister and Cody's my boyfriend cuz, let me tell you, I've had plenty of-"Zack lifted up a hand cutting off Baileys nervous ramble.

"Yeah, yeah okay! Gosh, I get it. So what does he look like?" Bailey reached into her back pocket and pulled out a brown wallet with a horse shoe printed on the front of it. Opening the wallet she reached in and pulled out a little square picture.

"His name is Ray." She stated handing Zack the photo. Zack grabbed it and looked at the incredibly skinny boy smiling warmly up at him. He had neat brown hair, the same color as Baileys and kind Hazel eyes which also matched Baileys own eyes.

"Huh, well he doesn't look too dangerous." Zack laughed,

"He looks smaller then me! Maybe he just wanted to beat Cody up for no reason. I feel like that som-"Zack stopped talking suddenly when a strange feeling rippled threw his stomach. It wasn't exactly painful, but it didn't exactly feel good either. Bailey ignored him and continued talking,

"That photo was taken about two years ago! He's really different now, like he's a lot bigger." Zack glanced down at the photo in his hand a second time.

"Oh! I recognize this guy now! He ordered a smoothie from me." Zack paused and stared at the ground thoughtfully,

"Well he tried to anyway. I was a little busy getting this blond girls number." Zack smiled mischievously and held up his hand to show Bailey the inside of his wrist.

"See! She even gave me her number." Bailey stared at Zack's wrists for a few seconds and sighed,

"Zack, there's only five numbers there." She informed him absently, taking her photo back. Zack rubbed his stomach and winced as the same weird sensation suddenly flared up on his back.

"Meh." he waved off Bailey's words and the weird feelings he was getting.

"You worry too much." Bailey glared daggers at him and placed her hand on her hips angrily. Laughing nervously Zack held up his hands defensively and stepped away from the angry female,

"Right! So let's go find them!" He said his voice thick with fake enthusiasm. Bailey nodded her head

"That's what I thought you said." She snapped following Zack towards their classroom.

**Line break**

"No really! That was my twin!" Cody gasped as the giant swung him around so that he was no longer pressing up against the wall, but the railing of the boat. Cody gulped.

"Well, isn't that mighty convenient." The Giant snapped finally letting go of Cody's collar.

"Define, convenient…" Cody mumbled pressing up against the railing as the bully stepped forward, once again invaded his personal space.

"Listen you; this is what's gunna happen." The giant started stabbing Cody in the chest with his finger. Cody winced.

"Your gunna break up with my little sister and never, ever _ever_ talk to her again! You got that goldy locks?" The giant snarled.

"Your Baileys older brother, Ray!" Cody gasped realization slapping him in the face. _That's why he looks so familiar!_ Cody thought to himself.

"And you're the little punk that was flirting with that blond girl instead of serving me my smoothie, even thought you're already dating my sister!" Ray snapped taking a step back, much to the appreciation of Cody who sighed in relief.

"I already told you, that was my twin brother." Cody repeated smiling. Ray glared at Cody angrily his face changing to match the color of his shirt dark red shirt. Cody gulped again.

"I am really going to enjoy this." Ray growled darkly. Before Cody could respond Ray pulled his arm back and balled his hand into a fist causing Cody to instinctively step back. Cody cursed at himself when he stepped on the shoe lace he should have tied earlier, and lost his balance. And then Ray's fist shot forward slamming into Cody's jaw.

**Line break**

Zack turned and headed up the little walk way on the side of the boat leading to his teacher's class room.

"There they are!" Zack said spotting his brother and Ray. Relief flooding threw his body. Not that he would ever willingly admit to being worried about his brother. Zack opened his mouth to make a witty remark when suddenly two things happened at once. Ray reached backwards and balled his hands into fists causing Cody to stumble backwards and then punched Cody across the jaw. Zack watched in horror as his brother hit the railing, slipped, and tumbled of the side of the boat.

**Heh. I have no clue what I'm doing. I never watch the suit life you know. Well I do, but i'm not like a dedicated fan or anything. Yo. **


	3. Chapter 3

**So I ****don't**** really know what would happen if you fell off of a cruise ship, but its not important, reality has no meaning to me. I just wanted to thank my AMAZEING Beta. no seriously, this chapter was nasty poo poo before it got all fixed up by the wonderful tiger002. So thanks for that. **

It was all so confusing. What had he even done to warrant being punched in the face? Nothing! It so wasn't fair. He was always getting blamed for his brother's antics. And this time his brother hadn't even done anything wrong, yet he was still getting in trouble for it!

Cody's inner tirade was cut short when Ray's meaty fist made contact with his jaw, and his heart picked up speed when he felt himself trip and lose his balance. There was a moment when he had been suspended in mid air and everything around him seemed to freeze, even his beating heart. He saw the shocked expression of Bailey's brother, the remorse that flicked threw his hazel eyes when he realized he had gone too far. Time sped up again though, and Cody found himself plummeting towards the water. He swore he had even heard Zack's voice, but he had never heard his brother sound that worried before. Zack had always been the brave, confident one. And hearing his brother's panicked voice was almost as scary as falling. Almost.

Cody hit the water with a loud slap, landing on his back. It was just like being punched in the stomach, only a thousand times worse. It was more like being punched in the stomach by the Incredible Hulk. All of the air was forced out of his lungs. Every last breath gone. He gaped silently, trying to scream or take a breath but nothing happened and he was left to sink, open mouthed and dizzy into the fridgged ocean water. The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was a blurry outline of a body coming closer to him. It collided into the shifting water he was slowly sinking into, but, his world went black and he saw no more.

**Line break. Who knew I could be so intense!! **

"CODY!" Zack screamed his blood turning cold. Bailey's Brother Ray spun around at the sudden noise. His face changing from shock at having knocked Cody off the boat, to confusion at seeing Zack, then to slightly green as sick realization hit him hard.

"Oh god..." He mumbled to himself taking a woozy step away from the railing. Ignoring Ray, Zack spun on his heel and ran towards the nearest red and white floaty ring. He couldn't remember what they where called, all he could remember was how he and Cody used to play with them in the pool all the time, much to Mr. Mosby's displeasure.

'_Cody_'. Zack swallowed hard and slipped the ring over his shoulder as he ran towards the railing. Crashing into it he gripped the cool metal so tightly his knuckles turned white. He could still see his brother! Just below the surface of the water. With out hesitating Zack pulled himself up onto the railing, tossed the ring into the air and dove in after his brother. He silently thanked his mother for taking him to all of those swimming lessons when they had been younger. _'I'm coming for you buddy.'_

Zack plunged into the ocean and allowed the momentum of his dive to push him further and further under the water. Enveloped in an eerie silence Zack floated idly, the reaming air in his lungs making him rise slowly. Eyes wide open, despite the burning salt water, he searched the murky depths for his brother. For a few panicky seconds the eldest twin couldn't see anything, but after a few quick turns he located him, slowly sinking down into the ocean's dark abyss. Kicking with all of his strength Zack headed for Cody, his fingers clawing threw the water as he desperately reached out for his brother. By the time Zack's hand finally made contact with Cody's sleeve his lungs were burning and his vision was beginning to flicker. Wrapping his hand around Cody's forearm Zack kicked, violently propelling the two of them towards the surface. '_It looked so easy in the movies,' _Zack thought as he used his last reserves of strength to keep pushing himself upward. Of course in the movies, the water wasn't freezing cold, and they never mentioned how heavy your cloths got when they were wet.

Finally breaking the surface of the water, Zack sucked in as much air as he could before the weight of his brother dragged him back under again. Pulling Cody to the top of the water Zack wrapped one arm around Cody's waist and used the other to try and keep the two of them floating. Kicking frantically Zack twisted his neck around to look for the red and white ring he had thrown into the water. Spotting it about a foot behind him, Zack reached backwards and began kicking towards it sinking beneath the water every now and then. It took a lot more time and effort than it should have, but, utterly exhausted, Zack finally reached it. Gasping tiredly He wrapped his free arm around the plastic ring and adjusted his grip on Cody who had begun to slip. Glancing over at Cody Zack laughed once.

"You idiot." He mumbled turning Cody onto his back and shaking him lightly. Zack blinked rapidly and ignored the twin trails of warm water running down his cheeks. If anyone asked, it was just normal ocean water.

"Zack! Cody!" A familiar voice called from far away. Looking up at the cruise ship Zack smiled tiredly at the worried face of Mr. Mosby. Zack turned to look at Cody once again. The younger twin opened his mouth to say something, but his breath suddenly caught in his throat and instead of words, a strange noise forced its way out of the blond's throat.

"Cody?" He croaked, realizing that his brother wasn't breathing.

Mr. Mosby's heart pounded loudly in his ears. He felt like anyone standing too close would be able to hear its frantic beating. Glancing around, the cruise ship manager noted the small group of people that had began to collect around the railing, all coming to gawk at the unfortunate passengers that had fallen over board. Suddenly Mosby heard Zack begin to yell; even from so far away Mosby could hear the panic in the teen's voice.

"He's not breathing!" Zack screamed, yelling up at the people on the boat. His heart stopped. It literally stopped. After all the years he had spent with Zack and Cody he had grown rather attached to them. One would even say he considered them the children he had never, ever, under no circumstances wanted. He Grinded his teeth and forced his rising panic down. It would help no one if he had a panic attack.

Suddenly a dark skinned man with short, black and white peppered hair stepped forward. He was wearing all white and had a light blue sweatshirt tied loosely around his neck. Lifting up his black sun glasses he shouted, "Turn him on his stomach but keep his head above the water!" The man's voice was loud and commanding and Mosby watched as Zack struggled to follow the man's order without question. It wasn't easy and if it wasn't for the single life ring keeping the two boys afloat it would have been impossible.

An idea struck Mosby, it wasn't a very good idea and he didn't know if it would help any, but it was a hell of a lot better then sitting around doing nothing. Turning to face Bailey and an extremely muscular boy who looked ready about to throw up, Mr. Mosby said, "Grab that other life ring and that rope over there!" Both teens jumped into action immediately and Mosby turned around to look at Zack once more.

The man in white was nodding and said, "Good! Good! Now keep doing that until he spits up water!" Mosby squinted down at Zack and saw that he was smacking Cody's back in an attempted to get his younger brother to spit up whatever water was currently blocking his airways. Feeling someone tap on his shoulder Mosby turned and saw Bailey hold up the life ring triumphantly. Nodding encouragingly he grabbed the ring and looked over at the giant boy who was holding up the rope guiltily. Mosby snatched the rope from the boy's hand pushing thoughts about the boy's suspicious attitude out of his mind. He didn't have time to worry about things like that right now. Dropping the rope Mosby grabbed one end of it and wrapped it around the red and white striped floatation device three times. Then he tied the rope in a double knot that he hopped would support the weight of a teenage boy.

"Good now hit him as hard as you can until he spits up water!" The strange man from the boat yelled loudly. Zack pulled himself inside the floaty ring and set Cody on the edge of it keeping his brothers head above the water. They must have looked ridiculous sharing the small floatation device like that. Pushing the trivial thoughts from his mind Zack balled his hand into a fist and smacked his brother on the back. When nothing happened he tried again, then again. Still nothing happened. Letting out a desperate sob Zack smacked Cody on the back again, willing his brother to breath. Cody's back arched and his head plunged under water, adrenaline shot threw Zack as he pulled his brother back out of the water. Coughing violently Cody vomited water, his whole body shaking as he heaved. Zack patted his back smiling broadly; even though Cody was clearly confused and disorientated and uncomfortable, he was breathing. Zack's smile widened as he watched his brother dry heave.

'Wha-?" Cody rasped his head swiveling around to take in his surroundings. Zack laughed, he couldn't help it, he was just so relieved.

"You dummy!" He giggled unable to contain his joy. Cody frowned at him and slipped off the floaty ring he was laying on so that the only part of his body touching the thin plastic device was his arms.

"What happened? Why are we in the water?" Cody looked up at the boat.

"Why aren't we on the boat!?" He gasped slipping off the floatation device completely. Zack grabbed Cody's wrist and planted it firmly on the floaty ring.

"Don't let go of this." He snapped going underwater so he could get out of the ring. Once he was out he flipped it over so that it was encircling his brother.

"There." He stated proudly.

"Do you think you can hold yourself-"

"ZACK!" Mr. Mosby yelled cutting off the rest of Zack's sentence. Zack turned and looked up at Mosby who was holding a second floaty device.

"Catch this and we'll pull you up!" He yelled tossing a red and white stripped ring with a rope wound tightly around it into the water. Zack winced as the flotation device smacked the water a few feet in front of him pelting him and Cody with little droplets of water. Zack glanced at his brother apprehensively.

"I'll be right back. Don't let go of this." He commanded smacking the ring Cody was clinging too. Cody shivered violently, his eyes dropping slightly.

"It's cold." He mumbled tiredly. Zack shivered in response realizing for the first time just how cold the water was. Shaking off the temperature Zack lightly smacked Cody in the face.

"Yeah it is, but you gotta stay awake. Cant have you drowning after I went threw all the t-trouble to save you." He stuttered feeling the affects of the water for the first time. Cody nodded numbly his eye lids closing even further. Apparently, almost drowning was an extremely exhausting activity. Zack took one last look at his little brother and then spun around quickly heading for the floaty with the rope attached to it. All he wanted was for this to be over. They had both gotten into some pretty sticky situations before, but none as dangerous as this. Grabbing the ring, Zack turned around and swam as fast as he could towards his brother. They weren't very far apart and the swim only took him a few seconds, but being away from his quickly fading brother left his heart pounding wildly. All it took was a few seconds and Cody would be back underwater. Gulping Zack grabbed onto Cody's ring and looked back up at the boat. Scanning the crowd silently he spotted Mosby.

"Now what?!" He yelled, wondering how they where going to get the two boys back up in the boat. Mosby turned around and talked to some one for a few minutes before turning back around to face Zack.

"Can we pull one of you up first and then the other second?" Zack glanced at his brother who looked half asleep. Smacking him on the head, a little harder then necessary, made Cody jump up his blue eyes unfocused.

"Wha-"

"Do you think you can stay awake long enough to hold onto the rope when they pull you up, sleeping beauty?" Zack snapped, starting to get more than a little worried about his brother.

"My head hurts." Cody whined in a very un-cody, more like Zack way.

"Well, that's probably from almost drowning, being punched in the face and falling off the cruise ship." Zack paused and pursed his lips,

"Not, exactly in that order though..." Cody rolled his eyes. Before he could respond Zack sighed loudly,

"Can you sit on this and hang on when they pull you up?" He asked lifting up the red and white ring. Cody eyed it suspiciously,

"Sit on it-"

"Like a swing." Zack nodded finishing Cody's sentence. Cody shrugged and reached for the rope tied around the floaty. After about five minutes of struggling and telling the people on the boat to lift the floaty out of water slightly the twins where able to get Cody firmly situated on the flotation device. Panting tiredly Zack gave the people on the cruise ship a thumbs up and watched as they slowly lifted Cody up and out of the water. Cody gasped quietly and clung to the rope for dear life, looking slightly green when it began to sway from side to side slightly. After a short time multiple hands grabbed Cody by the shoulders and pulled him onto the boat. Once Cody was safe, Zack allowed himself to sink down into the water leavening only his nose and eyes exposed. Blowing out air bubbles the teen realized exactly how cold, and tired he was. The whole ordeal had only taken about thirty minutes but it had definitely been the longest thirty minuets of his life.

"Zack!" A voice yelled from above. Zack looked up at Mosby and waved enthusiastically, pushing away all of his exaustion. Mosby nodded and tossed the floaty ring overboard.

**Apparently (I looked it up) if you fall of a cruise ship, chances are you wont be found before its too late, from the height you would probably die when you hit the water and the railings are all to high up to actually get PUNCHED off the boat. SO this is the plan. If we pretend none of those little facts are true...then they ****officially****aren't****! ****Woo****! Screw reality! Just ****don't**** go jumping off any ****cruise**** ships in the near future. **


	4. Chapter 4

Zack shivered violently against the freezing cold wind. He tightened his grip on the slippery rope as the people on the boat slowly lifted his numb body upwards. It felt like at any moment, the icy water covering his hands would make him slip back into the freezing depths especially when he saw his knuckles turning white through slowly fading vision.

After what seemed like hours of swaying and shivering, Zack felt two pairs of hands latch onto his wet shoulders. Sighing happily, he finally released his death grip on the rope and allowed himself to be pulled over the side of the boat, and onto the sun soaked deck. He silently thanked every deity that he had heard of that the ship was so warm. He briefly wondered how the ship could be so warm while the water was so cold, but soon concern for his brother pushed that thought aside.

The older twin glanced over at his brother. A smile came across his face as he saw two employees rush over to him. Zack saw the employees put Cody's unconscious body on a thin white stretcher. His brother was safe, and that's what truly mattered.

All Zack wanted to do now was sleep in the warmth of the sunlight, but the people around him made this impossible. There shadows covered him and they began bombarding him with questions, not even giving him a chance to respond.

Pushing through the crowd, the man with the white suit grabbed Zack's head and pulled back his eye lid. Grabbing a pen light out of his pocket, he clicked it on and shone it in Zack's eye. Squinting against the light, the teen swatted the man's hand away. The stranger's smiling face was suddenly replace with Mr. Mosby's concerned one.

"Zack are you all right? Zack!?"

"Yeees! I'm fine!" Zack groaned wishing all of the people swarming around him would stop blocking the sunlight.

Mosby eyed the blond skeptically. "Then why don't you stand up?"

"Because it's really warm down here." Zack mumbled curling up on his side and closing his eyes. He was really tired. And the deck was _really_ warm.

"You should probably take him to the infirmary. It only takes about 12 minutes for hypothermia to set in at a water temperature of 50 degrees, especially in someone as small as him," a deep voice instructed. Zack guessed it was the man in the white suit, so he cracked a sleepy eye open to confirm his suspicions. The man was kneeling next to Zack talking animatedly with Mosby. The manager stood up and started to yell at some more employees.

"What are you? A doctor or somthin?" Zack asked turning to look at the man. The man smiled and saluted Zack.

"Dr. Summers, at your service." The man said smiling brilliantly. Zack sighed and looked up when another face appeared above his head.

"All right Zack were going to lift you up-" Zack held up a hand, effectively cutting off the rest of the guy's sentence.

"I can stand up by myself. Thank you." He said propping himself up with his elbows. After a few seconds of silent struggle, he fell back to the ground, Zack finally gave up and allowed Dr. Summers's to help him up. The doctor grabbed Zack's outstretched hand and pulled the blond to his feet. Zack released a breath of air, almost regretting the decision to stand when black spots filtered across his vision.

"Whoa..." The blond mumbled stumbling a little.

"Are you sure you're..." Mr. Mosby's question trailed off when Zack shot him a glare.

"Yes I'm fine. Now...which ways the infirmary?"

Bailey walked down the hallway stiffly. She could

* * *

not believe how awful this day had been. A simple mistake had nearly killed her boyfriend thanks to her hotheaded brother. Ray was so lucky that Cody hadn't drowned. They were _all_ incredibly lucky that Cody hadn't been killed.

"Bailey..." Rays deep voice called out softly from behind her. Bailey crossed her arms over her chest tightly, ignoring her older brother.

"Bailey, do we have to..." Rays voice trailed off as the duo stopped in front of a light gray door labeled, 'infirmary'. Spinning on her heel, Bailey eyed her brother angrily.

"Yes, we have to. You almost killed him Ray!" Taking a deep breath, she counted down from five, continuing in a much softer, but no less angry, voice.

"The least, and I mean the very _least_, thing you could do is apologize."

"But that's so..." Ray scrubbed his face tiredly, "What am I supposed to say?! Sorry for almost killing you? That's so lame!"

"It's a whole lot better than just pretending it didn't happen! Now stop acting like the victim and go apologize!" Bailey hissed, slapping her brother's arm. She really had no idea what you where supposed to say to someone after you had almost killed them but a simple sorry was better than nothing.

"What if they're both still asleep?" Ray asked nervously, snapping Bailey of her silent musings.

She cocked an unimpressed eyebrow at Ray. "Ray. I can hear them in there. You may be stupid, but I know you're not deaf," she snapped planting her hands on her hips. Ray cringed at the anger he heard in his sister's voice but didn't retaliate. Rolling her eyes Bailey stepped in front of her brother, grabbed the door handle and pushed it open.

* * *

"Hey!" Cody yelped narrowly avoiding the light blue pillow Zack had thrown at him. "You shouldn't be throwing stuff at an injured person," he reprimanded as he picked up the remote to the TV.

"Well an injured person shouldn't be watching TV. Which means you don't need the remote. Which means you have to give it to me," Zack retaliated looking for another loose object to toss at his brother.

Cody snorted, "That's stupid. Why shouldn't I watch TV? That's not a rule anywhere."

"Well I saved your life, so I deserve the remote." Zack said smoothly, "and give me my pillow back..." he added.

Cody rolled his eyes at his brother. "Get it yourself. You're the one that threw it at me."

Zack sighed and stood up. Walking over to Cody's bed, he bent over and picked his pillow up off the ground. Dusting it off, he smiled evilly at his brother. Sensing what Zack was about to do, Cody hid the remote behind his back. Before anything had the chance to happen though, the door to the infirmary burst open, revealing an angry Bailey and her uncomfortable looking brother.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zack watched his brother shrink down into his bed and shift his gaze from the door, to a spot on the floor near Bailey's foot.

"What is he doing here?" Zack hissed ignoring the pounding in his ears as all the blood rushed to his head.

Baileys gazed flickered over to Cody. She quickly looked away and crossed her arms over her chest uncomfortably. Uncrossing them and placing them on her hips, she sighed. "He came to apologize."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized just how lame they really sounded. There was no way you could just _apologize_ to someone for almost killing them. Bailey glanced up at Cody. There was a big black and purple bruise forming on the right side of his jaw. Her resolve to stay angry suddenly dissolved at the sight of her boyfriend's bruised face.

"Oh Cody..." She breathed airily pushing past Zack and sitting herself at the foot of Cody's bed. All the rage she felt before melted into concern for her boyfriend. "Are you alright?"

"I am now," he said softly as he ran his hand through her hair.

Zack glanced at Bailey and his brother, glad to see them happy, but rage soon filled his body as he switched his gaze to Ray.

"A concussion, a mild case of hypothermia, not to mention the huge bruise covering the majority of his back, and he almost drown! You almost killed my brother and you want to apologize?" Zack growled angrily. Crossing his arms defensively, he glared at Ray. "It better be a pretty damn good apology."

"Yeah well...I'm sorry for knocking you off the boat." Ray mumbled quietly. Bailey tore her gaze from her boyfriend to her brother, appalled at how lightly he was taking the situation.

"And?" She prompted crossing her arms over her chest. Ray looked at her quizzically.

"And for punching you?" He added looking at Bailey questioningly. Baileys only response was to glare.

"And for losing my temper, and not letting you explain the situation, and for almost making you drown!" Ray apologized getting louder and louder with every word until, by the end of his sentence, he was yelling. He paused abruptly and looked up towards the heavens as if expecting an angle to fly down and give him the right words. Either that, or he was thinking about the all you can eat buffet table in the room that just so happened to be above the infirmary. Bailey looked away from her brother and over at Cody who was playing with the frayed end of the powder blue blanket.

"I'm really sorry Cody. I-" Bailey paused. What the heck was she supposed to say? No one ever told her what the appropriate response to your brother almost killing your boyfriend was. Cody looked away from the blanket.

"Bailey. It's not your fault; none of this was your fault. It was just a mistake. Let's forget about it. Okay?" He said wincing at some random pain in his body. Bailey stared at him for a few tense seconds her eyes dangerously wet. Reading the unasked question in her eyes Cody reluctantly turned to Ray. Their eyes met for a few seconds before both boys looked away.

"Uh Ray..." Cody mumbled wanting to be the bigger person and forgive Ray for almost killing him and endangering Zack's life. Ray held up hand to silence whatever Cody had been planning on saying. Taking a deep breath he stood a little taller and began what Cody thought was going to be a sincere apology. Instead, what he got was a shock worse that being punched off a cruise ship.

"I'm sorry for almost killing you. But really, a hit like that shouldn't have knocked you off the boat. Pretty weak if you ask me. It's a good thing your brother had jumped in and saved your scrawny ass, cuz I sure as heck wouldn't have." Ray leaned to the right and cracked his back. "But at least you didn't die. So consider it a lesson well learned. You know that saying, what doesn't kill yah makes yah stronger. Well, you're welcome." He winked and clicked his tongue at Cody. Turning on his heel, he clasped his hands behind his back and walked out of the room. His once tense posture now completely relaxed as if he had just rid himself of some great burden. The door slammed loudly behind him, leavening the occupants in the infirmary to stare open mouthed in stunned silence.

Finally, Zack broke the quiet and began yelling loudly, "I can't BELIVE that guy!" he yelled throwing his pillow on the ground violently

"What is wrong with him?" Bailey added jumping up,

"Out of all the-"

"Most inconsiderate people-"

"I've ever meet-"

"What a JERK!" Both of them suddenly yelled at the same time. Cody grabbed his head and flopped down on the bed. Of all the things he had been expecting from Baileys brother, that was not one of them.

**TWO WEEKS LATER **

Zack plopped a lime green bendy straw into the pineapple smoothie his current customer had ordered. His gaze flicked towards Cody nervously. Even though it had been a week since the accident, Zack could still see the fading purple bruises lightly coloring his twins jaw, and that was only a fraction of the damage done to his body. There was a large fading purple and yellow bruise covering the entire upper half of Cody's back as well as his left side.

Sighing tiredly, Zack pushed the smoothie at his costumer. She smiled and thanked him, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously. Zack ignored the girl; instead, he focused his attention on the figure that was walking under the arch in the stairs. His fists clenched tightly as he watched Ray strut onto the deck. A small grin came across the older twin's face.

Cody continued folding fluffy white towels oblivious to his girlfriend's brother or Zack's plan.

The older twin glanced up at Woody who was standing up at the top of the stairs with an ominous looking bucket in his hands. Zack gave him thumbs up and craned his neck to see if the skateboard he had left on the deck was still in place. He smiled smugly when he saw it was sitting undisturbed right in front of the hot tub.

Ray stepped out from under the stairs, heading for the smoothie bar. Before he took another step though, Woody tipped his bucket upside down spilling its red, watery, slimy contents directly onto Ray's head. He yelled loudly in surprise and jumped forward landing on the skateboard, which shot forward with the teen on it. Ray pin wheeled his arms blindly, trying desperately to maintain balance while simultaneously wiping at his eyes. The skateboard slammed into the side of the hot tub throwing him forward. Yelling loudly, Ray landed face first into the warm water. All passengers on the deck stared in surprise. Suddenly Ray's head broke the surface of the water. Gasping loudly the bumpkin looked around in shock.

"Who left that skateboard there?!" He spluttered spitting water out of his mouth.

"Mommy why is that boy blue? And why is his hair red?" A little blond girl close to the hot tube whispered loudly, tugging at her mother's long white shirt.

Rays head snapped towards the little girl, "Wha-what?" he mumbled glancing down at his hands. Rays eyes widened in surprise at the sight of his dark blue hands. Reaching up and grabbing a lock of his hair Ray pulled it down in front of his face and gasped when he saw that it was indeed red. Zack laughed and turned around satisfied with his handiwork. He opened his mouth to ask for his next customers order when he realized with a jolt of surprise that his next customer was Mr. Mosby. Raising his hands in defense Zack took a step backwards guiltily.

"Zaaack." Mosby said drawing out the A.

"M-Mr. Mosby! I can- I mean, it's not-" Mosby raised his hand to silence the frazzled blond.

"What do you think you're doing? There are empty smoothie cups all over the place!" The ship manager sighed sweeping a hand behind him.

"I'm not paying you to stand around and flirt with pretty girls." Zack stared at Mr. Mosby in complete shock. For once in his life he was unable to come up with some sort of witty comeback. Mosby's gaze wandered over to Ray who was spinning around wildly in the hot tub as if he was looking for something. Giving a final loud yell Ray climbed out of the water and stomped back towards the elevator. Spotting the skateboard he had tripped on Ray glared at it and kicked it violently which caused him to lose his balance, slip, and fall to the ground with a loud bang. Sitting up he looked around the dock in embarrassment, his face most likely brilliantly red under the dark blue dye.

Before he could stand up though, Woody leaned over the railing once again and dumped a second bucket on the ridiculously buff teen. Ray let out a loud shriek as mayonnaise coated his red hair and blue face. Laughing hard Zack dropped the washcloth he had been cleaning with on to the ground, completely forgetting about Mr. Mosby who then glared at him.

"I'm serious, clean up the smoothie cups." He mumbled before walking away. Zack wiped a tear away from his eye just as his brother walked up to him.

"Are you the one that's been dumping buckets of stuff on Ray all week?" Cody asked setting his newly folded towels down. Zack took a deep breath.

"Yeah, I'm also the one that's been throwing his shoes in the pool, stealing his food, coating his cloths in itching powder and haunting his room with a conveniently placed walky talky." Zack confessed happily, picking up a rag and tossing it in the air cheerily.

"Hey Woody. Nice work." Zack laughed greeting his chubby friend. Woody mock saluted Zack and set the two buckets down on the table top,

"All in a day's work!" He said placing his hands on his hips, feeling accomplished.

"Now." Zack said stepping back and reaching under the counter. "Are you ready for the next prank?" He asked holding up a box of saran wrap and a jar of guacamole and what could only be described as a miniature version of the international space station. Woody smiled widely showing off his braces, holding up a clenched hand the two fists bumped and rushed off towards the elevator.

"Wait, you're going to play even more pranks on him without my help?" Cody asked raising an eyebrow at his brother.

"Of course not, let's go!"

* * *

**And thats the end of my story! Here I would normally go on about how awful it was, but thanks to my FANTASTIC Beta, I can honetly say that I think it turned out pretty good. So thank you, My fantastic beta! **

**Thanks to all of you that read! :)**


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